USA: Physicians urge for the end of chimpanzee experiments

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), from United States, has launched a campaign urging the Congress to support the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act (H. R. 1513/ S.810). The group defends the end of the use of chimpanzees in labs and points the reasons to approve the law proposal:


ETHICALLY RESPONSIBLE

• Chimpanzees suffer, as a result of stress and trauma, from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, similar to humans.
• The United States is the only nation still using chimpanzees in large-scale invasive research.

• Although chimpanzees are our closest genetic relatives, physiological differences make chimpanzees poor models for human health research.
• Leading hepatitis C researchers are using human cell based research methods instead of chimpanzees.

• More than $200 million in federal tax dollars were spent on chimpanzee experiments between fiscal year 2000-2010.
• Only 20 percent of chimpanzees in laboratories are used in research at any given time, while 80 percent are warehoused at taxpayer expense.